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Thus, for the two weeks in January that I spent vacationing in the Pacific Northwest, #etmooc and all other “real world” stuff got pushed to the back burner while I went in pursuit of two of my great loves…

A corset book, one of the many wondrous objects in the University of Washington’s Book Arts Collection.

A couple of chickens preparing to cross the road. (okay, not a book, nor food, but representative of my third great love: funky local art)

By the end of my vacation, I felt refreshed, rejuvenated and ready to jump back into #etmooc-ing but, alas, the universe had other plans. By the time my homeward bound plane touched ground, I was knocked nearly unconscious by a nasty flu.

After a week of bed rest, coupled with large doses of fresh ginger, o.j., and gallons of soup, I’m now (mostly) back to normal – hurray!

To ease myself back into the swing of things, I spent the evening catching up on some #etmooc blog posts. Here are a couple that knocked my socks off:

It’s the end of #etmooc orientation week and, for the most part, I think I’ve got myself sorted with the help of several tech tools:

WordPress.com: After registering for #etmooc, I started this blog to reflect on all the cool and exciting things I’ll learn in the next 10 weeks. I chose WordPress over other weblog publishing tools because I appreciate the clean and professional aesthetic of many of the templates. The dashboard is not always user friendly but a quick YouTube tutorial is usually all I need to get me back on track.

Evernote: Oh how love thee! I created a brand new stack of notebooks where I’ll stash links to articles & blog posts; save tweets that inspire me; jot down fresh new ideas to try; clip provocative G+conversations…and much, much more.

HootSuite: Unfortunately, twitter chats happen while I’m at work…boohoo. I saved both the #etmooc and #etmchat hashtags – displayed side-by-side – so that I can still participate in conversations during my bus ride home.

Google Reader: I added the #etmooc & BlogHub to my otherwise empty Reader. To be honest, I’d rather use Flipboard for this since that’s where I do most of my weblog reading but for some reason, the BlogHub RSS wouldn’t cooperate. Oh well, such is life.

Google+: My self-introduction post led to new connections with other information professionals, including Heather Martin, who created a G+ circle specifically for #etmooc librarians – yippee!

MOOCS can often feel overwhelming so I tried to weave #etmooc into my existing streams of information, making it easier to connect and engage. Which tech tools have you found useful while organizing your #etmooc experience?

What it is…

GoAnimate is an online do-it-yourself video maker for businesses, educators, and students. Basic accounts are free, or you can pay a nominal fee for extra features like uploading images, video clips and sound, or publishing rights to social media platforms such as YouTube. School accounts are also available, affording educators a safe, private and monitored environment to help students create their own mini masterpieces.

What I liked about it…

After breezing through a quick sign-up page, I was guided through a fun tutorial which showed me all the basics I needed to know in order to create my video. The user interface was very intuitive, featuring a simple yet colorful layout and family friendly images to work with. I especially loved the cute animations that I could use to make my main character dance happily across the screen.

I think that students of all ages would get a kick out using GoAnimoto to present book reports, point-of-view debates or to illustrate a story. Teachers might use it as a fresh method of introducing a new topic in class, posing hypothetical scenarios or to create tutorials.